This year, I decided to try going “old school” to start my year by tracking my goals with pen on paper. Like many of us, my new year resolutions usually go by the wayside by Valentine’s Day. This is the year, I vowed to myself, that I would be more accountable to my goals.

The first step was finding the right journal for me; and after researching the many options in the market now, I opted for a Commit30 planner.

So, during the week between Christmas and the new year, I plotted out my annual goals. Sounds easy, right? Not really.

After jotting down notes on scratch paper and several iterations later, I finally got the nerve to commit my goals in ink. Just so you understand why I struggled with plotting out my goals, check out the 12 goal categories and consider the bullet points you’d list under each. Some will be super easy, but others may require some deep thinking!

• Physical health
• Mental health
• Spiritual health
• Personal growth
• Marriage/partner
• Family/friends
• Career
• Home
• Pure joy/fun
• Adventure/travel
• Community
• Finance

When I jotted down “write more” under the personal growth category, that’s when I realized my plans for creating a blog needs to be less talk and more action.

Voila! So, here I am with my first blog post.

Now, three weeks into the new year, I’m tracking daily and getting so much more accomplished already. At least I feel like I am!

I’m jotting down my life and work to-dos, food intake, gratitude, physical activity and social calendar. All. In. One. Place. By journaling for just a few minutes each day, I always know what’s hanging out on my to-do list. As long as I write it down, I own it. Even if I have to carry a task over to another week or month. And I find I’m not mentally reminding myself (nagging, really!) so often. And we all know with our mental lists, many of the little things just fall off.

As the year continues, stay tuned as I share more activities and tasks that fall under my goals this year. I’m looking forward to a healthy, productive and joyful year ahead.

Happy 2022!